El Taco Diablo... Mall Crawlin, now with LT for tall curbs

There’s also a nice camp site about 15 min away from the trail head too if you guys want to stay the night. Let me know and we can set something up.

 

which sliders??

 

All-Pro

 

Another epic day in Stanislaus National Forest with @Pella and @Papadave418

Clavey River Bridge
Then we headed to the spot @CalTacoma09 @Sharkfrog @rob1208 and I decided not to go to last weekend. (Where we talked to that couple on the ATV)... He was right... absolutely not getting across with the river where it is. But found an OUTSTANDING place to camp... and a cool trail to run to get there. (no way I'm calling it a road).


Then on towards Bourland Meadows.

Made it within less than a mile to Bourland Meadows... But a large tree and snow drifts kept us out.

So we headed to Bourland Tressel

And then headed back to the rat race.
​

 

More pics of Niagara Rim Trail

 

Finished off a little project yesterday. Awning install.

 

Finally took the time to set up my Torque Pro app, on my phone, using a Bluetooth plug in on my OBII port.

 

Well, my weekend plans were cut a bit short this passed weekend. We got a really late start Friday night... and then our Trans temps started to spike and truck over heated on the way up to our campsite... at about 10PM. By the time we made it to our campsite, got set up, and got to bed, it was passed 2AM. We were much closer to camp than home, it was late, and I didn't feel like making the drive home at that point.


Was the first trip, fully loaded, since the 4wd swap (and also going from 265 to 285 tires). Pretty sure I have the right ideas on how to solve the problems... and that's what I'll be doing this weekend. ​

 

I went with the Champion Aluminum. I believe it will work for 2.7 and 3.4.

 

So, sudden coolant temp spike tells me some kind of blockage. Which is odd, because the Tstat was replaced last year (with genuine Toyota, jiggle at 6:00) And I also flush the coolant system more than most do.

But, I still ordered a new Tstat and O-ring. Will also be flushing the entire system, as well as the heater core separately.



I've also heard from a friend that he chased an overheating issue for nearly an entire summer, one year. It was on a 5vz-fe motor, and it turned out to be a collapsing lower radiator hose. He said under hard load, once the system heated up, the hose would become soft and suck shut. So I ordered an internal support spring for inside the lower hose.




As for the trans temps. I'm kind of disappointed in myself. When I did the 4wd swap, I also did a shift kit. The instructions said it might be a good idea to replace the T/C lock up solenoid, because a worn or improperly functioning solenoid can cause the trans to run hot. I priced the solenoid at my local dealer, and they wanted 158 bucks for it... so I left it alone. I should have priced elsewhere, because I've found the average price from other dealers to be around $55. I ordered one... now I get to crack open the transmission again (joy).



While I have the pan dropped I'll of course inspect and clean the strainer as well.

I will also be adding a trans cooler, with thermostat switch (another thing I probably should have done while I was swapping to 4wd)


As well as adding an external transmission filter, mainly to add more fluid capacity (another thing that should have been done during my swap)



And last but not least. When I installed my winch, I put the big solenoid box in the center in front of my radiator. Didn't really like it there, but with 2 batteries under the hood, my choices were limited. I've been researching other options and found you can replace the 4 Ford tractor style solenoids with a solid state contactor. The contactor is much smaller, and is also safer in respect that solenoids can fail "open" causing the winch to run until disconnected from the battery. The contactor will fail "closed" causing the winch to not run.

Anyway... I have found the contactor will easily run a Warn 8274. I run an M8000 so it should do fine. At the end of the day, I'm hoping that clearing space in front of the radiator will help.

 

UPS guy brought me a bunch of work for this weekend.




More will be here tomorrow and Friday.

 

Good looking truck, I’m diggin the side boxes. Just wish I’d thought of that before I welded up my rtt rack at 36” between legs. I’ll probable get a side box meant for a UTV to fit the tight space.

 

For some reason I had a vision of how I wanted it. Took 2 years to make the boxes/rack/RTT all go together but I'm sooo glad I did it the way I did.

 

Haven't updated this thread in a bit, so here goes.

Truck made a pretty major mile stone

 

You can finally stop running the break in oil

 

Spent the weekend addressing the overheat issue I had a couple weekends ago.

Pulled the radiator to mark the new shroud


I'm actually running a lower shroud again.

 

Added a stainless coil inside the lower radiator hose.


Also replaced the Tstat while I was in there for good measure. The way it was overheating suddenly, and out of the blue, it had me thinking some kind of obstruction. I think the lower hose was sucking shut.

Also flushed the system twice and back flushed the heater core.

 

Decided while I was doing everything else, I would upgrade my old Warn solenoid box to a Warn solid state contactor. It's more water resistant, safer, and also cleared the obstruction from in front of the radiator.


Before


After